We recently connected with Naihomy Jerez and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Naihomy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I feel like my professional career has always chosen me. I started off in digital advertising straight out of college, thanks to my high school teacher who was then working for one of the biggest internet companies at the time. I worked in various companies covering everything from SEO, to TV commercials, to digital ads. I always worked within the sales department under the account management team, and there I learned so much about business. Not only how to communicate internally with various departments, but also how to build external client relationships. Ten years in, I had my second son. I was on a mission to get myself back after two back to back pregnancies, and lose some of my baby weight. I started hitting the gym, then working with a nutritionist. Working with the nutritionist completely changed my life. I had NO idea there was SO MUCH to learn about food. Not only did I end up losing 50 pounds and keeping it off, I also felt SO energized, even with my corporate job, two babies, LONG commutes, and a home. After two years of proving to myself that this lifestyle shift was manageable as a busy mom, maintaining my results, and I was feeling better than ever – I asked myself why more women in my community didn’t know about food and the results it could give you without having to torture ourselves with yo-yo diets. I decided THAT is what I wanted to do – teach women how to use food and lifestyle to heal their body, lose weight for good, and feel like themselves again.

In 2020, I ended up quitting my job, and with the support of a career coach, launch my business. Five years later I have supported dozens of women lose weight, and get their health back on track with love and grace. This entrepreneurship life found me through my own journey and helped me discover my passion.

Naihomy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am Naihomy Jerez, a Certified Integrative Nutrition and Hormone Health Coach and the podcast host of WELLthy Generation. I am deeply passionate about teaching women of color how to use food and lifestyle to redefine weight loss, support their hormones, and heal their body, while living their best life. I began my own wellness journey after the birth of my second son, shedding 50 pounds without restrictions, maintaining my progress year after year, while honoring my foodie and cultural identity. Motivated by my transformation and healing, I launched my coaching business, driven by a desire to show women in my community that achieving health goals is important, can be fun, simple, and sustainable. I am a Bronx raised Dominicana, partner, and mother of two, who loves eating good food, going to gym classes and reggaeton concerts. 

The main way I support my clients is through one on one coaching. When it comes to wellness, women usually are given a predeveloped plan, follow trends that celebrities are doing at the time, or think that a spa day or face mask will solve their deep rooted challenges with their health and thoughts about themselves. Through my one on one support, I get to go deep with my clients to understand their lifestyle, how they REALLY feel about themselves, how they have tried to solve their health and wellness challenges in the past, and we build a sustainable wellness plan based on THEM, together. There is not following trends, or challenges with our work. I really support my clients with knowledge, practicing new skill, and building lasting habits that will make their results stick instead of fleeting.

Many of my clients come to me because they finally want to stop ignoring their themselves, they have hit a wall with their health and nothing they have tried before is working now, or they have been dealing with chronic illness that doctors have not been able to help them heal. I have supported my clients in losing 10-30 pounds, healing their relationship with food, loving how they look in their clothes/ in the mirror/ in photos, PCOS, pre-diabetes, IBS, hashimoto’s thyroiditis, painful or irregular periods, infertility, low energy, perimenopause, or simply understanding how to take good care of themself with intention for the first time.

What sets me apart from other Health Coaches is my holistic approach – seeing and addressing the whole person and how that impacts their results and healing. I TEACH my clients so they are confident in making decisions for their health and wellness. I bring scientific data to back up recommendations, and I collect data that pertains to my clients like what they are eating, blood work, menstrual cycles, mood, and so much more to make informed decisions based on their unique body and experience, instead of general suggestions.

One of the things I am most proud of is the 3 babies who have come out of my one on one coaching service. These women were suffering from PCOS, where they did not have a period for nearly a year, autoimmune conditions like hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and unexplained infertility at nearly 40 years old. All three were able to get pregnant naturally and delivery healthy babies. Other things I am proud of is seeing life come back into my clients. The confidence, the freedom, the healing that has come out of really getting to know themself. A lot of my client have felt broken, hopeless, and like they just have to deal with a lot of what is happening to them because its “hereditary”, but they soon learn through our work together that it IS possible for them to feel like themselves again and love the way they look as well.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Honesty, transparency, sharing knowledge, and being culturally relevant.
I have had SO many clients tell me that they have worked with other nutritionist before and they do not feel seen or supported. When they work with me, I know all about their cultural foods, their experience as a women of color, and/or being first gen. That’s me too!

In addition to all of this, I build community by engaging with my audience and sharing information in new ways they have not heard before.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I have had to really unlearn that as a solo entrepreneur, I do not need to run my business as fourtune 500 company. Thats the world I came from, and I was putting so much pressure on myself to follow schedules, and produce that it was really burning me out. I was not taking advantage of the flexibility I know had, and I was not given myself grace for wearing SO many hats.

I also wore a proud badge of hyper independence. Soon enough I had to unlearn that this way of living was not healthy or sustainable. It was one of the biggest lessons and breaking points I had to learn as an entrepreneur. Being supported in multiple ways felt so uncomfortable, like I had failed, like I had betrayed myself. However, it was such an important lesson to learn to be able to grown in my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.naihomyjerez.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naihomyjerez/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naihomyjerez/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@naihomyjerez